20 Happy Thoughts to Instantly Make You Happier

Life can be at times incredibly challenging. Sometimes, it knocks you down for no good reason. You may be confronted with difficulties that squash all the happiness out of you. Setbacks and failures accompany you everywhere you go. In short, there are some days where being happy simply doesn’t seem possible. But why is it that some people seemingly manage to remain calm during these situations? Why is it that some never lose hope, even when confronted with the greatest challenges? Why can some motivate themselves to keep happily going, even when the going gets tough? And why is it that some happily lift themselves up when moments of sadness or depression drag them down? The answer to these questions lies to a great extent in happiness. Or to be more specific, in these people’s ability to evoke happy thoughts that elicit pleasant emotions. Doing so helps them to maintain a positive attitude during times of great hardship. In the following, you can find 20 brilliant happy thoughts that will instantly make you happier.

There are times in which it may seem as if it’s almost impossible to ever be happy again. However, the impact of these difficult times does not have to be that severe. There are certain happy thoughts you can entertain that can quickly give you a much brighter perspective on life.

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thinking about happy thoughts helps you to maintain a healthy level of happiness, no matter what happens to you in your life. These happy thoughts will gradually help you to magnificently change the way you perceive the world around you. They will make you feel more satisfied and content with what you have, which helps you to stop chasing ever more. In short, there are certain happy thoughts you can think about that will lift you up during times of great sadness.

It doesn’t take a great thinker to entertain happy thoughts. It’s easier than you think.

Here are these wonderful happy thoughts that will quickly make you feel happier.

20 Happy Thoughts to Instantly Make You Happier

Every one of us seeks to be happy, yet many struggle to achieve this – often mysterious – state of mind. What many don’t understand, however, is that happiness is a choice. We have to choose happiness. It’s not something that will eventually come down upon us. It’s also not something that can be awarded or even bought. Instead, we have to learn how to be happy from within.

One of the greatest mistakes people make in their pursuit of happiness is that they seek happiness from the outside. They try to accumulate wealth and material possessions in the hope that these things will make them happy. At the same time, many seek to fulfill all their desires, without realizing that they are insatiable. All these attempts are bound to fail.

When it comes to being happy, it’s necessary to reconnect with the true source of happiness that lies within you. Entertaining happy thoughts is an important step you can take into this direction. It will help you to realize that happiness always starts with yourself. Happiness is a direct result of your thinking processes. Even more so, it is greatly influenced by how you think about what happens to you. If you choose to think positively when confronted with difficulties, you’re more likely to maintain a happy attitude.

Let’s have a look at the happy things to think about when the going gets tough.

1. The difficulties shall pass, life will go on.

No matter what happens, life will always go on.

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” Robert Frost

By telling yourself that “this too shall pass and life will go on,” you redirect your focus away from the negativity of the situation. It is an excellent thought you can entertain in order to counter all the other negative or depressing thoughts that are arising. Entertaining this happy thought will enable you to see things through and to remind yourself that failure is not permanent.

It will spark your optimism and can become a beacon of light during the darkest nights.

2. Good things will happen.

No one can ever live life only on the bright side. We all have to go through some difficult times as well – including you and me. And there will be times when trials and tribulations will rain down upon you. There will be stormy dark days where it seems as if you have entirely forgotten how it feels like to be on the bright side of life. But none of this is permanent.

In these challenging situations, it is important to remind yourself that there will be better days as well. In fact, it is crucial to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude during these times. Remaining positive will help you to keep going and to keep searching for the light at the end of the tunnel. It will encourage you to do whatever it takes to create a better future for yourself. By entertaining happy, positive thoughts during these days, you can prevent that negativity breaks you.

At the same time, those who get quickly depressed when things get tough are more likely to give up and surrender to life’s happenstances without a fight.

3. I’m grateful for…

When confronted with negativity, it’s incredibly difficult to distract yourself from it. You will surely have noticed that when something negative happens to you, it becomes the dominant factor in your thinking. Over and over again, you keep mulling about what happened, unable to think about something more positive.

Gratefulness can introduce welcome change in these situations. It shifts your attention away from the negative aspects of your life to those that are more positive. Doing so will help you to put things into perspective. It will also enable you to remind yourself that your life isn’t that bad.

Scientific research about being grateful has highlighted that cultivating gratitude is an incredibly powerful thing to do. It improves your psychological and physical health, makes you sleep better, and boosts your self-esteem, among many other benefits such as increased levels of happiness.

Many people reject the idea that their life is predetermined. But telling yourself that everything in your life happens for a specific reason has nothing to do with whether or not destiny exists. Instead, it is a brilliantly encouraging happy thought. It will help you to gradually begin to accept whatever has happened. Not only this, but it will also open yourself up to start searching for meaning in the difficulties you had to face.

Entertaining this happy thought encourages you to stop blaming life for its blows of fate. Doing so will empower you to shed off your role as helpless victim. And once you’re no longer a victim of life, you will begin to find meaning and important lessons in the things that have happened to you. Once this process has kicked in, you will start using the difficult lessons that life taught you to grow stronger.

At the same time, realizing that negativity ultimately serves you helps you to develop the necessary courage it takes to understand that something positive will emerge from bad times.

5. You’re always best when things are the worst.

Living on the sunny side of life can be quite joyful and fulfilling. But you seldom grow beyond your limits during these times. Instead, the bright side of life opens room for stagnation.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Kahlil Gibran

Setbacks and difficulties cannot be avoided. But you can always use these experiences as opportunities to accelerate your growth. It is important to realize that whatever happens to you will ultimately help you to become a stronger and wiser person. Even more so, it is important to understand that whenever you are confronted with the most difficult situations, essential growth takes place.

There are many people who have started shining in the brightest light during times of great despair. In fact, without the challenging hardship, they wouldn’t have turned out to be the person they are today. They might be seared with scars, but their characters and their willpower have become unshakable.

6. There’s a bright side to everything.

One of the greatest obstacles to happiness is to pity yourself when something negative happens. You can lament and feel sorry for yourself all you want, but it won’t make you feel better. If you want to remain more optimistic and positive during these situations, it’s important to realize that there’s always a bright side to everything. You only have to keep looking for it. And admittedly, it can often take some time to find positivity in negative developments. But if you do have the courage to keep looking, you will eventually find the bright side.

Once you’re able to find something positive, no matter how small, it will help you to gradually get rid of all the other negative thoughts. By initiating this powerful process with these happy thoughts, you will one day be able to look back at what happened without remorse but gratefulness.

7. Others went through similar experiences.

Whatever is happening to you, there are many others who had to go through similar crises. By realizing that others were confronted with similar difficulties, which they eventually were able to overcome, you’ll become more determined to keep fighting. It will help you to realize that many others struggled greatly during these times as well, but emerged victoriously from it.

At the same time, knowing that others were in a similar situation makes you more receptive to these people’s advice. There are many people who were confronted with a great variety of different issues, which led them to find effective solutions to these problems. You only have to keep searching for the books, videos or articles of these individuals. Once you find their works, many important keys towards solving your situation will be presented to you.

8. You can always change how you look at things.

In life, it is not so important what happens to you. You cannot change it anyways most of the time. What is important, however, is how you look at the things that happen to you. The way you think about negativity and how you respond to it greatly determines your life.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer

No matter what happens to you, you can always think differently – and more positively – about it. But as it was said in the introduction, changing how you look at things is a choice. You can always maintain a negative attitude to the aspect of your life that you are not satisfied with. But you can also look at these things from a different perspective.

9. Other people are good, they are just like you.

Other people may not necessarily have the same beliefs, hobbies or interests as you. But they all seek to live a happy life. They all love their families, siblings and friends just as much as you do. And they all give everything they can to build their children a brighter future.

Reminding yourself of these happy thoughts helps you to overcome mistrust and feelings of separation from others. Because let’s face it, it’s always easier to think negatively of people. It’s always easier to assume the worst of others. But if you come to understand that they go through the same struggles you are confronted with, you will become more compassionate towards them. It also helps you to see more of yourself in others.

There are exceptions of course, but it would be a shame to let a minority seal you off from all others. Try to see other people in a more positive light. Some only need the necessary encouragement to show their inner light.

10. Bad days happen, there’s no need for blame or guilt.

Sometimes, there are days in life when absolutely nothing seems to work. More often than not, there’s nothing you can do about it. At the same time, it may not always be your fault that these things are happening. Some people will treat you poorly not because you did something wrong, but simply because they have their own problems.

Whenever you’re having a bad day, accept that there are ups and downs to life. There will be days when life pushes you to the ground just as there will be days of great happiness. Try to understand that this is natural, that these days are entirely normal. If you manage to do this, you free yourself of unnecessarily blaming yourself for things you’re not responsible for.

11. When one door closes another door opens.

Life seals at times certain doors right in front of us that can never again be opened. There are missed opportunities, things we no longer can do or simply strokes of fate. While it is certainly not pleasant to see a door closing, it doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. For everything that is taken from your life, you will gain something new. With every door that closes, another door opens.

What is important, however, is not to remain standing in front of the door, resenting that it was shut. Instead, try to seek the new opportunities that come when doors are closed.

12. Negativity shows you there is a need for change.

Life does not confront you with negativity in order to punish you. Instead, it often highlights that you need to change certain aspects of your life. The fact that there is a need for change may not always be communicated in a gentle manner. But more often than not, this is the only way to get the point across.

13. Life is a journey, not a destination.

Life is a process and it takes time to affect changes. Be patient with yourself and give yourself the necessary time it takes to make one step after the other. Keep your goals and dreams in mind, but don’t forget to find joy and happiness even in the simplest of things.

14. What you do consistently matters.

Your life is almost exclusively shaped by all the actions you consistently engage in. This means that it is not so severe if you make a mistake here and there. It is also not so bad if you struggle at one thing or fail at another. All that matters is what you repeatedly and consistently engage in. If you consistently pursue your goals, if you consistently strive for greatness, you will manifest results. It can prove to be a powerful happy thought to remind yourself of this fact, especially when you’re struggling with laziness or procrastination.

15. All that matters is the present moment.

There is no past and no future; all that there is this the present moment. You cannot make undone what happened in the past. Similarly, you cannot influence many aspects of the future. All you can do is use the present moment in order to build a happier and brighter future. Don’t let the present moment pass by unused. Don’t allow fear and anxiety to stop you from making the most of the moment.

16. You create your purpose in life.

No one will ever come to you and present you the purpose of your life. Things simply don’t work this way. Similarly, it may be quite difficult to find your purpose in life. Instead, understand that your purpose in life is something you have to create. It is something you need to actively work for so that it can come into existence. Don’t seek it, create it.

17. You are the only one you can compare yourself with.

The great problem about comparisons is that they are unjust. Fair comparisons would require that you look at every aspect of a person’s life and compare it to your own. You would have to look at this person’s background, childhood, circumstances they grew up in, education, family, siblings, friends and many other aspects. However, you seldom have the opportunity to do so. At the same time, you lack the right metrics to compare the accomplishments of your life with those of other people. There is simply too much individuality and uniqueness involved. We also tend to compare our weaknesses with other people’s strengths. As a result, comparisons cause dissatisfaction, discontent and great levels of unhappiness.

Instead of engaging in unjust comparisons, compare your own progress with your former self. See how you have grown and developed as a person. Doing so will help you to highlight the important accomplishments of your life, instead of letting other people’s accomplishments drag you down.

18. Winners make the best of every situation.

This is another happy thought I routinely choose to entertain when confronted with a difficult situation. You’ll notice that it gives you the courage it takes to overcome circumstances you cannot change or influence. Entertaining this happy thought also shifts your focus away from pitying yourself towards actively making the best of the situation.

19. There’s a lesson to be learned in everything that happens.

Everything that happens to you teaches you a lesson – in one way or the other. Unfortunately, most people ignore these lessons. They are more intent to forget what happened instead of taking the time to analyze the situation. This approach is a lot easier and drastically less painful, but in the long run, it will not benefit you.

However, if you actively seek the lessons you can learn from setbacks or hardship, you will be able to make use of these difficult times. It will further help you to let go of the anger about what happened, which will be replaced by a happier attitude.

20. Things could be much worse.

Admittedly, being confronted with difficulties never feels good. But in many cases, we tend to attribute far too much importance to these negative experiences. Putting things into perspective can help you to prevent this downward spiral from ever starting.

Try to put what happens to you into perspective. Doing so will help you to realize that things are almost always not that bad.

I hope you enjoyed this article about powerful happy thoughts that lift you up.

About Author

Steve is the founder of Planet of Success, the #1 choice when it comes to motivation, self-growth and empowerment. This world does not need followers. What it needs is people who stand in their own sovereignty. Join us in the quest to live life to the fullest!

After surgery, my hand was heavily bandaged and my fingers were discolored, swollen and hurt. Yet the doctor said to move them to help reduce the swelling. Happy thoughts are like an exercise to be done daily and frequently. Even when you are in pain. I’m grateful I can move my fingers at all. I will get through this.

What a load of platitudinous crap! While it’s always best to look on the positive side of things to pretend that “everything happens for a reason” is just a recipe for fatalism. Sometimes, terrible things happen to wonderful people for no reason, or even for bad reasons. To pretend otherwise is to ignore reality. Accept that these things happen, keep faith (in whatever or whomever), and be strong and resilient.

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